Flames get zapped by Lightning

A scoreless night from star Steven Stamkos was no problem for the surging Tampa Bay Lightning.
Cedric Paquette scored his first two NHL goals as the Lightning completed a four-game home sweep by beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Thursday night.
Tampa Bay also got goals from Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning had scored 15 goals during three wins earlier in the homestand against Arizona, Philadelphia and Washington.

TAMPA, Fla. — A scoreless night from star Steven Stamkos was no problem for the surging Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cedric Paquette scored his first two NHL goals as the Lightning completed a four-game home sweep by beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Thursday night.

Tampa Bay also got goals from Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning had scored 15 goals during three wins earlier in the homestand against Arizona, Philadelphia and Washington.

“It’s big if Stammer’s line is not going, somebody else is picking that up,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.

Stamkos was held without a point, finished minus-1, and got both of his shots during a third period in which the centre played just five shifts.

Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who had won three in a row. Mark Giordano had two assists.

“I felt that the effort was there,” Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. “I don’t think that we looked like a bunch of fat cats out there. It’s not a matter that they outworked us. They outsmarted us because we made some bad mistakes, but it’s a game of mistakes. No one does it on purpose, especially not in this organization.”

After Paquette’s second goal at 61 seconds of the second period, Boyle put Tampa Bay up 3-1 at 4:02 on the rebound after Jonas Hiller stopped the forward’s initial shot during a short-handed breakaway.

“We’ve got it going pretty good up and down the lineup,” Boyle said. “We want to continue that.”